Another Year in the Life of a Villain
Another year of Dr. Schlock is explored in the Webcomic. Plot The story begins with Dr. Schlock drawing another triangle of strategy while mourning that they'd lost one of the points of the triangle: Oasis. Kusari appears behind him and quickly pops Schlock, which promptly reveals that the true Schlock is hiding himself through inflatable decoys. He complains that this had been the worst year of his life as the Hereti-Corp CEO. The story jumps back to the beginning of the same year. Schlock has been negotiating with Dr. NoFun over the contract of the female biochemical scientist Biyu Daiyu. NoFun reluctantly agrees to give her to Hereti-Corp, but quickly mocks Schlock for hiring a woman. Daiyu quickly (though awkwardly) befriends Dr. Shankraft and Reynold Strom. The researchers of Hereti-Corp are asked to do many experiments whose intentions confuse them, particulary Shankraft, who's forced to create a "giant" version of a nanite, to give five times the fuel and potency of a REA-1's propellants (which ends up in India, as shown in the previous story), and creating a fire-proof and fire-breathing duck with the help (and to the chagrin) of Biyu Daiyu. When Shankraft confronts Schlock, demanding to know why he was forced to perform such stupid experiments, Schlock reveals that was all training to prepare him (Shankraft) to create hand held versions of the Dimensional Flux Agitator, for which Schlock earns Shankraft's respect. Frog now has robotic power-armor with a cape, which leads Strom to seriously questions his employer's sanity, and even more when Gennaro (who was hired to keep his eyes on Schlock) informs him that Schlock has become obsessed with spying on Torg (he even goes so far as to analyze a photo of Kiki's buttocks). Because of this, Strom decides to betray Hereti-Corp and claim the bounty on Oasis by cutting off the latter's head. To add insult to injury, he frees all the prisoners from their cells, and their attempt to stop Strom only leads him to shoot at Schlock's shoulder, blowing up most of Hereti-Corp's building. Schlock manages to recovers from his injuries and recapture Daedalus Hereti, but the Zalias are still beyond his grasp. When Schlock tries to enlist Dr. Chen in his research, he accidentally reinstates Chen as the CEO, who promptly exploits the situation by sending Kusari on a murderous rampage, targeting Dr. Schlock and leading to the deaths of several agents (including Gennaro and Corsica). Schlock is forced to hide himself in a panic room, but by the next day, he turns the tables, revealing that he still is the majority stockholder. Since Chen has already killed or chased out all the other investors from the building, Schlock quickly retakes his position and subdues Chen with Kusari. Chen convinces Schlock to spare his life by pointing out that Schlock still needs his knowledge of Dr. Steve's lab and Kusari will be not enough to protect him from his enemies. Despite the previous incidents, a weaponized version of the D-F-A gun is completed, but the experiences of the preceding year leave Schlock afraid and distrustful of everyone, to the point of only interacting with them though decoys or video screens, particularly Kusari, who he orders to stay away from him (she tried to remind him that she was only following orders, but the damage was already done and Schlock lost all trust and professional respect for her). A recap reveals that Corsica had already died long before, but Hereti-Corp agents repeatedly replaced her with another frog in order to not traumatize Frog. Schlock then instructs Biyu Daiyu to create a "Happy Juice", no matter how expensive. When Shankraft informs Schlock that the whole of humanity would declare war against them once they start to use the D-F-A hand gun, he decides to create a large fortress to protect them. He recruits Shankraft to build a giant D-F-A gun at its top. The story end with the suggestion that Sluggy Prime might have the same fate as the Dimension of Rain. Category:Stories